Woolly Mammoth in the Room

To paraphrase a famous quote, you can fool some of
the people all of the time and all of the people some of the time, but the
hardest part about running for governor of Wisconsin is fooling all the people
all the time.

After months of Milwaukee County Executive Scott
Walker campaigning around Wisconsin on fabricated claims of mastering the
financial troubles of Milwaukee County without ever raising taxes, the truth
came crashing down around Walker just weeks before the election.

The Greater Milwaukee Committee, representing the
area's leading business executives, tried to hide their top-secret report on
the disastrous financial condition of Milwaukee County under Walker until after
the election.

But as hard as politicians and their keepers may
try, it's difficult to keep truth under wraps, especially when it's the size of
a woolly mammoth and twice as ugly.

The conclusion of the Greater Milwaukee Committee's
report is that Milwaukee County under Walker is on the brink of financial
collapse. The report recommends emergency state legislation to allow the county
to declare bankruptcy and begin liquidating its assets. Oh, and also
eliminating the job of county executive.

“If we don't make changes today,” the report's draft
summary concludes, “the future looks grim. Parks will close, bus routes will
end and families in distress will not get the help they need. Our Milwaukee
will grow smaller and smaller as people and companies leave.”

That grim future is not very far off, either. The
report says in just six years the county's pension and health care obligations
will take every dollar raised through the county tax levy.

Actually, many of us have long suspected the
destruction of county government was the long-term objective of Walker and
other anti-government conservatives.

I asked Walker on the radio once whether eliminating
county government was his ultimate goal. He said he wasn't ready to recommend
that step “yet.”

The political plan, no doubt, was that the chickens
wouldn't come home to roost amid all the wreckage of Milwaukee County until
after Walker had moved on to higher office.

It hasn't worked out that way. Four years ago, when
Walker dropped out of the 2006 race for governor, many attributed it to
pressure from party bosses for Walker to defer to Congressman Mark Green as if
Green were some super candidate, which he wasn't.

Walker's Lack of Leadership

Less noticed was that Walker's sudden exit came
shortly after his politically embarrassing admission that Milwaukee County
might require a major state financial bailout to avoid bankruptcy under his
leadership.

Walker decided to lay low for four years and hope
voters would forget. It almost worked, too. A complicit local media, including
reporters who knew all about the county's disastrous fiscal condition, remained
silent while Walker sold himself around the state as a financial administration
hero.

Walker's political spin on the latest evidence of
his government's looming economic collapse is that his leadership over the past
eight years somehow improved Milwaukee County's financial condition: “We made
it better.”

Just the opposite is true. Adopting a political
opportunist's philosophy that nothing is more important than minimizing taxes
for current voters, Walker consistently underfunded pension obligations and
every other county responsibility.

Anyone who's ever experienced personal finances
spiraling wildly out of control learns the hard way the worst thing you can do
is stop opening your mail and answering the phone.

You end up with what Bruce Springsteen describes as
“debts no honest man can pay.” That's the brink to which Walker has brought
Milwaukee County.

The question for voters on Nov. 2 is whether they
want Walker to turn the state budget, which touches the lives of everyone in
Wisconsin, into the same economic train wreck.

Logically, you would think the election-eve
financial revelation about the Milwaukee County disaster would have a profound
impact on the governor's race.

It doesn't come from any liberal source. The
chairman of the Greater Milwaukee Committee also heads the conservative Bradley
Foundation and Walker's gubernatorial campaign.

Walker's opponent, Democratic Milwaukee Mayor Tom
Barrett, says the next governor has to take realistic steps to begin dealing
with a $2.7 billion state budget deficit the moment he sits down in his chair.

And Walker shows no indication he has learned any
lessons about financial responsibility. His primary promise to voters is to
increase that $2.7 billion state deficit to $4.2 billion by passing out $1.5
billion in tax cuts to the wealthiest people in the state.

But don't underestimate the political popularity of
promising tax cuts and ignoring financial realities. Republicans are confident
that's all they need to do this year to be returned to power even after those
same policies created one of the worst economic disasters in American history.

If Walker gets away with it, he could take the
financial collapse of Milwaukee County statewide.

Tags

Joel McNally is a national-award-winning newspaper columnist and a longtime political commentator on Milwaukee radio and television. Since 1997, Joel has written a column for the Shepherd Express where he also was editor for two years.

Comments (19)

Damn, are you leftist clowns entertaining when des...

Damn, are you leftist clowns entertaining when desperation sets in! Thanks for the laughs and let's try this again....all together now.....congratulations Governor Walker and Senator Johnson! I absolutely love it!

Anonymousmore than 8 years ago

Oh, Corrina, it will be a joy to see your response...

Oh, Corrina, it will be a joy to see your response when "Sunspot" Johnson, & "Bankrupt" Walker get their asses kicked...ROTFLMAO!!

Anonymousmore than 8 years ago

@WiscActor: In such an event, Corrina will merely ...

@WiscActor: In such an event, Corrina will merely switch to some other variation of the standard talk-radio/neo-con Orwellian *duckspeak* script. Corrina is mentally incapable of anything else.

Anonymousmore than 8 years ago

Mr. Walker has failed to work with the county’s mu...

Mr. Walker has failed to work with the county’s municipalities to consolidate redundant services.Mr. Walker has failed to negotiate in good faith with the unions.Mr. Walker resorts to public grandstanding as evidenced by his silly giant veto pencil and his giant veto stamp.Mr. Walker hires cronies rather than seeking the best and the brightest to run the departments in his government.

His is a failed executive but a nice person and a poor leader but wonderful front man for the corporate oligarchy.The budget problems are unsolved, the pension crisis is unsolved, the infrastructure, park, transit, mental health services, and parking structures … failing … falling apart …. destroying , even killing people … how much must the man let fail before his sleepwalking followers wake up?They put a very special drug in the GOP cool-aid these days; it makes you see greatness in hollow men.

Anonymousmore than 8 years ago

Joe, we can take comfort in knowing that if Democr...

Joe, we can take comfort in knowing that if Democrats and Liberals turn out in big numbers on 11/2, we'll see Tom Barrett in Madison and Russ Feingold in Washington.
We need to regain control of political discourse from Conservatives, Republicans and extremist Christians. We don't have time anymore for ideology and theology to dictate America's political future.

Anonymousmore than 8 years ago

Well said Joe Klein & meepos. ...

Well said Joe Klein & meepos.

Anonymousmore than 8 years ago

Attention lazy and inferior leftists! Say it will ...

Attention lazy and inferior leftists! Say it will me now, all together....... "Governor Walker"! I am just giddy!

Anonymousmore than 8 years ago

No, you're ignorant and stupid.
Bankrupting the c...

No, you're ignorant and stupid.
Bankrupting the city and the real possibility of bankrupting the state makes you "giddy?" How blissfully ignorant can you get? I wish there was some sort of competency test required prior to voting. If there was, Corrina, I wouldn't have to worry about you, or any other moronic Neo Con, casting a vote. Should the worst happen and Walker takes office, I hope the state recession and decline hits you hardest, Corrina. I hope you have to suck up your false pride and go on welfare. I hope you have to pay an arm and a leg to ride Walker's planned privatized bus system to the over crowded unemployment office. I hope you're forced to move somewhere else so our fine state has one less nut case to worry about. You're so eager to see the day when your hypocrisy will come a bite you in the rear. That's just plain ridiculous.

Anonymousmore than 8 years ago

Well said meepos! ...

Well said meepos!

Anonymousmore than 8 years ago

@meepos: I really have to take exception to your r...

@meepos: I really have to take exception to your remark about competency testing, because the Jim Crow South used "literacy tests" as one of many means of voter-suppression aimed at black citizens. That said, Corrina seriously needs to read The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements by Eric Hoffer.

Anonymousmore than 8 years ago

@meepos. Are you serious!? Competency tests requ...

@meepos. Are you serious!? Competency tests required prior to voting? Bring it on!! Not another Democrat would ever hold office!

Anonymousmore than 8 years ago

“If we don’t make changes today,” the report’s dra...

“If we don’t make changes today,” the report’s draft summary concludes, “the future looks grim. Parks will close, bus routes will end and families in distress will not get the help they need. Our Milwaukee will grow smaller and smaller as people and companies leave.” Sound familar because this is the same quote from one of the articles that the Journal Sentinel also covered yesterday afternoon on their site. I know because that's where I first read about this.

Anonymousmore than 8 years ago

If ignorance is bliss, Jeremy and Mr. Wrong are tw...

If ignorance is bliss, Jeremy and Mr. Wrong are two of the happiest fools in the world. I hope yours are the first jobs to go.

Anonymousmore than 8 years ago

Well said....

Well said.

Anonymousmore than 8 years ago

My name is Ron Meepos. Are we related?...

My name is Ron Meepos. Are we related?

Anonymousmore than 8 years ago

Of course Tom Ament had nothing to do with this. S...

Of course Tom Ament had nothing to do with this. Scott's got my vote and the votes of all my friends and I have a lot of friends. If the Shepherd doesn't like someone I always make sure they get my vote. God bless Scott

Anonymousmore than 8 years ago

Mr. Right, and his friends, are voting for a polit...

Mr. Right, and his friends, are voting for a political weasel.

Anonymousmore than 8 years ago

"The report says in just six years the county’s pe...

"The report says in just six years the county’s pension and health care obligations will take every dollar raised through the county tax levy."
Coming from the first people that criticize local government for trying to reduce the burden of exorbitant benefits to county union workers. I suggest to help you donate all ad revenue to Milwaukee County to help keep our taxes low in this dire economic environment.

Great suggestion, Jeremy!...

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